Icom Radio has long been known in the Amateur Radio
community as a manufacturer of very high quality radios. HF, VHF and UHF radios encompass a vast lineup in the Amateur line, while Icom also manufacturers
radios for business, FRS and GMRS use. It's in this realm that I can say I have
an Icom Radio that works perfectly on the GMRS Frequencies.
I personally own an Icom IC-T81A quad-band radio (I have been a licensed amateur radio op for several
years) and it is a great little handie. I also owned a 2 meter (VHF) Icom mobile radio eons ago, and never
had any trouble with it.
My personal experience with Icom
As well as the IC-T81A handie-talkie, I used to own an Icom IC-4088 which is a FRS only handie
talkie. An excellent little handie which is as reliable as the day is long. The US military is purported
to be using Icom FRS handies for several different uses. That should speak volumes about it's
reliability.
I own a pair of Icom IC-F621-TR mobiles that I use for GMRS. These mobiles are
commercial grade, operate at 45 watts output, and are repeater capable from the get-go. However, they are
much pricier than any GMRS "only" handie you can find. But I know some folks are willing to pay the extra
bucks for commercial grade radios. So here's a few of the "commercial grade" UHF handies that can be
programmed to work on GMRS, from Icom. The IC-F621-TR can also be used for trunked radio operations, so a
less expensive professional, full power radio would be the
Icom IC-F6021 UHF full power mobile radio. IMHO you can't go wrong with an Icom Radio.
Check out the ICOM
lineup here!
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